Massey College, Toronto

Massey College is the postgraduate college of the University of Toronto located at the St. George campus in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The college was established, built and partially endowed in 1962 by the Massey Foundation and officially opened in 1963, though women were not admitted until 1974. It was modeled around the traditional Cambridge and Oxford collegiate system and features a central court and porters lodge.

Similar to St. John's College, Cambridge, and All Souls College, Oxford, senior and junior fellows of Massey College are nominated from the university community and occasionally the wider community, and are elected by the governing board of the college. The President of the University of Toronto, the Dean of graduate studies and three members of the Massey Foundation are ex officio members of the governing board, chaired by the elected member of the governing board. Members of the governing board are elected for five years; the principal of the college is elected for seven years.

The college is well-connected with prominent figures of the national establishment, and is the sponsor and host of the annual Massey Lectures. It hosted the Man Booker International Prize of 2007.

Massey College was conceived by Vincent Massey, the 18th Governor General of Canada, who attended University College, Toronto, as an undergraduate. Of the establishment of a new graduate college, Massey wrote, "It is of great importance that it should, in its form, reflect the life which will go on inside it and should possess certain qualities—dignity, grace, beauty, and warmth." The Massey Foundation, for which Vincent Massey served as a trustee, provided the financial endowment.

Opened officially in 1963, the college was designed by Canadian architect Ron Thom, who subsequently designed the master plan for Trent University. Alan Beddoe designed the Massey College coat of arms, which derives from the arms of Vincent Massey.

The founding head of Massey College (1963–81) was the celebrated Canadian journalist and author Robertson Davies. Professor Patterson Hume was the second head (1981–88), and Professor Ann Saddlemyer was the third one (1988–95). The fourth head of the college (1995–2014) was journalist John Fraser. On July 1, 2014, Hugh Segal, formerly a member of the Senate of Canada, became the fifth head of the college for a seven-year term, but he resigned in 2019. The sixth principal was Justice Nathalie Des Rosiers, a former Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Dr. James Orbinski was announced as principal on Aug 16, 2024.

During the 2006–07 academic year, Massey College hosted the King and Queen of Sweden, held a special tribute in honour of the founding head of the college, Robertson Davies, and was the host of the Man Booker International Prize in April 2007.

Located on the St. George campus, Ron Thom's design for Massey College was inspired by the medieval Oxbridge style college. As in Oxford and Cambridge, the buildings of Massey College all centre around one court which is accessible through only two gates. The main gate is at the foot of the tower, along with the porter's lodge. The quad contains a large pond with fish and fountains as well as the St. Catherine's Bell in the clock tower attached to the porch. The bells are rung three times a day during the school term to mark meal times. Around the quad are a total of five residence houses on the east, north, and west sides. The ground floors of these houses contain some administration offices. The largest building, containing the majority of the public space available to members of the fellowship, is on the south side along with the principal's house. Public space at Massey College includes the large dining hall, a small private dining room, a college common room and bar, an upper library, the lower library, the "puffy couch room" (an informal common room with television and games), the Colin Friesen seminar room, a computer room, and non-resident study carrels.